


Dried Sardine Blues

by ghaskan



Series: Hoshi Ryouma [1]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Bittersweet, Gen, Monologue, No Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 18:59:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9562298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghaskan/pseuds/ghaskan
Summary: You can throw away your past, but you cannot run away from the things you miss the most.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's been raining too much lately. I put [some jazz music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVJ5jgZU6gU) on, and...

“Haven’t I told you to not seek out a murderer like me?”

Like clockwork, Hoshi Ryouma would try to shoot down Akamatsu Kaede’s offers to hang out. But he had to give credit where credit was due: her persistence was admirable, even if it was wasted on him.

“Hoshi-kun… please, it’s not the first time I do this, now, is it? If I had a problem, I would have stopped meeting with you long ago.”

Hoshi’s trademark piece of candy lay on the cafeteria table, next to a bowl of dried sardines. Hoshi picked one up, and gnawed on its head, all the while savoring the salty, crispy flavour. “Bah. Suit yourself,” he mumbled after gulping the sardine’s head down.

Akamatsu was sitting in front of him, her hands resting on her lap. “So did Hoshi-kun skip dinner to eat dried sardines?”

The sardine’s body was now gone as well. “Guess I did. Got a problem?”

“None whatsoever. I’m just curious as to why Hoshi-kun would like something as plain as dried sardines so much.”

Hoshi took his time to eat another sardine. Akamatsu stared at him, resolution glinting in her eyes, although the sweat glimmering on her forehead made it clear that Hoshi’s actions were tinging her with nervousness. Well, he had already told her so much; he might as well try to humour her a little. “It brings back memories. Good ones.” Hoshi picked up the piece of candy and stuck it back in his mouth.

Akamatsu’s brain raced as it tried to place this new piece of the puzzle. Hoshi-kun had a cat… Hoshi-kun was eating dried sardines—Bingo! “Hoshi-kun... could it be that the dried sardines remind you of your cat?”

Hoshi took out his candy, holding it with his thumb and index finger, then sighed as if taking a long drag out of a cigarette. “You’re too sharp for your own good, Akamatsu. But yes, that’s correct.” With that, Hoshi put his candy back in his mouth and gave it a chew. “Well, I guess I owe you a story for your troubles.”

“It all started in the Summer. I was going home from tennis practice when I first met that cat, a purebred Russian Blue. The poor thing was all skin and bones. You’d think people would arse themselves to take care of such an expensive cat, but I guess vacations are more important. Anyway. My house was close by, so I went there to fetch some food for him. We didn’t have any pets, so dried sardines were the best I could offer. Not that the cat minded them, he devoured them in the blink of an eye. That’s how hungry it was. The next day, I saw the cat again. Did the same thing. Then did it again the day after.

“We formed an unspoken contract. The cat would come by after I was back from tennis practice, I’d give him his sardines, and he’d let me pet him for a while. Never gave the cat a name, though. I didn’t want to get attached. I was sure the owners would look for their purebred once they were back from their oh-so-precious vacations. Ah, how naïve I was back then.”

“I’d check all missing pet signs in town. Hell, I even checked the newspapers once in a while. But they never tried to get their cat back. It became Winter, and never once did I see anyone searching for a missing Russian Blue.”

“There was this one freezing night. I was gritting my teeth, it was that bad. Made it real hard to fall asleep. I had already fed the cat in the evening, and he had gone away to do his own thing. Suddenly, I heard someone knocking on the window.”

“I slipped out of bed and snatched my racket. Just in case it was...” Hoshi scratched his nose. “You know, in case it was a thief. But, to my surprise, it was the Russian Blue.”

“I opened the window, and he jumped right into my room. Then I closed the window, and when I turned back he was sitting on my bed. Cats sure are shameless. Not that I could blame him for seeking warmth. I got back in bed, and the little guy laid against me, all curled up. I probably mumbled ‘good grief’ under my breath. We ended up huddling together, though. It was the warmest I’d felt in a while.”

“After that night, the cat began hanging around my place more often. Hell, he started following me when I went to tennis practice.” Hoshi breathed out longingly. “He was a good cat.”

Silence. Akamatsu figured Hoshi was done telling his story. That had been the longest she had ever heard him talk, so it was not like she had any complaints. All she wanted was one final confirmation. “But then you had to leave him with your friend.”

“Mm. I hope he’s doing fine. If there’s one thing I truly regret, it’s leaving him all alone.”

Akamatsu had no good reply for that. But Hoshi did. He pushed the bowl towards the middle of the table, and invited her to take a bite. After a moment of hesitation, Akamatsu took up on his offer. They spent the time they had remaining before heading to bed enveloped in a comfortable silence, punctuated by the crunchy noise they made as they snacked on dried sardines.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you liked it.


End file.
